Verovaccines develops vaccine giving animals complete protection against infectious diseases : Date:
Verovaccines GmbH develops novel yeast-based veterinary vaccines. The vaccines can be used against a variety of pathogens in different animal species. The vaccine development is funded by the “Gründungsoffensive Biotechnologie GO-Bio” (Founding Initiative Biotechnology) of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Dr Hanjo Hennemann, CEO and co-founder of Verovaccines, explains how the vaccine works and what the next steps in vaccine development will be:
How does the vaccine work?
Our vaccine is based on the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis which produces immunity-triggering pathogen constituents (antigens). This procedure allows for the co-expression of several antigens in a single yeast strain. After fermentation, the yeast cells are completely dried and sterilized by means of irradiation. Our vaccine can be stored as a thermostable powder. The powder is dissolved in water and the suspension is then injected for immunization. We have thus developed a pathogen-free, cutting-edge subunit vaccine that can be manufactured and applied safely.
What are the unique characteristics of Verovaccines’ technology platform and vaccines?
The most important unique characteristics are: cost-effective manufacturing (thanks to the three-step procedure described above); easy combination (in a single yeast strain or by mixing different yeast powders); broad applicability (enveloped and non-enveloped viruses); high level of safety during manufacturing and application (pathogen-free, no attenuated vaccine); and thermostable storage (no cold chain required).
What is the advantage of the vaccine over antibiotics?
Vaccines can be administered once or twice for prophylactic immunization which protects animals against infection with the relevant pathogen for a period of months or even years. They therefore stress animals less and put less pressure on the environment and wastewater than antibiotics, which must be administered regularly. Vaccines can be developed for protection against bacteria and viruses, while antibiotics only target bacteria. However, the broad use of antibiotics in livestock farming has a significant disadvantage – it leads to the generation of multi-resistant pathogens that pose a high risk to human health. New vaccine approaches thus provide important tools to fight infections in livestock farming and significantly reduce the use of antibiotics.
What are the next steps and what are your expectations?
We have been able to validate several vaccine programmes with regard to their levels of protection/effectiveness. We now aim to optimize the vaccines and develop them based on regulatory requirements. Furthermore, we aim to scale up our manufacturing process from laboratory to industry level. We therefore expect to become a true vaccine developer which generates data relevant for licensing and thus obtains vaccine approval within the next 1-2 years.
What impact has funding under the “Gründungsoffensive Biotechnologie GO-Bio” (Founding Initiative Biotechnology) made in your company?
The funding we have received under the “Gründungsoffensive Biotechnologie GO-Bio” has supported us at all levels of vaccine research and development. This applies in particular to the process of creating a multi-valent technology platform, the validation of the platform and the underlying vaccines as well as the opportunity to set up a company based on these achievements and raise investment capital. The GO-Bio programme focuses on encouraging scientists with promising approaches in basic research to start a business and on supporting start-ups during the development phase. As a life sciences company, this is particularly important for us.
Verovaccines GmbH is a spin-off of Professor Sven-Erik Behrens, Dr Hanjo Hennemann and Dr Martina Behrens from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. The spin-off was founded in July 2017.